Duke, Please Fail!

Episode 2

There were three turning points in my life.

First, when I was 10 years old, my father passed away. The estate was all blown up by my mother being scammed.

The night I lost my fortune, my mother told me when she was very drunk.

“Nelly. I'm going to marry someone else. My new husband doesn't know that I have kid. So I can’t raise you anymore.”

“Then what should I do, mom?”

“You choose. Do you want to be alone or go to your uncle?”

Living alone with a 10-year-old. Thinking about it now, that's funny. But I was a shy child, and I was afraid to live alone.

“I’m going to my maternal uncle.”

I was afraid of a sudden change, so I cried and cried, but nothing changed.

I was entrusted to my maternal uncle, and I ended up living in a small house that was all slanted. There is no room left in such a house.

I've been moving back and forth between the living room and the kitchen. On the day the guests came, they were kicked out to the stables.

Even though I raised it with leftover food, my uncle demanded that I pay for the meal. So, he made money by sewing and running errands to help with his household.

I lived like that for 7 years.

And at the age of 17, a second turning point occurred.

“Hey, you crazy man! What if I blow it all away!”

My aunt's cry echoed through the house. I sat in the living room and watched the two of them fight. I heard that my maternal uncle had lost all of his fortune by gambling.

Can I stay here longer? While I was worried, I heard my uncle's voice.

“Don’t worry, I have all my thoughts! There's an old man with a lot of money in the neighborhood who's all dying, right? He can marry Nelly. When that old man dies, all the inheritance is ours!”

I was wondering what kind of bullshit that was. Why do I marry an old man who I don't know his face? Of course, my answer was only one.

"No, I do not want."

"What?"

My maternal uncle slammed the table hard and shouted.

"Uncle, you also has a daughter. Ask her to marry that old man.”

“This is a pierced mouth! Aren't you supposed to repay the kindness I've given you to feed and put you to sleep?"

“I think the money I gave you so far paid off enough? In fact, the money my uncle blew was also mine.”

"What? This kid!”

My uncle raised his hand. But when I jumped up from my seat and raised the chair, I gently lowered my hand.

Then he shouted with a blushing face.

“Do you think I don’t know that you stole money?”

Then he took the money bag I had saved and shook it.

“Go away with empty-handed right now, or marry meekly, one of the two!”

It's my money, how could it be stolen? It was ridiculous, but I didn't want to get caught up in that money.

I threw the chair aside and lifted my head.

“I haven’t been thankful for a while. I'll count that money as a good thing. Well then, goodbye.”

“Yes, go! Go out and live somewhere! Do you think you can stand it? Will it crawl into every corner of the house in less than a day? Then be prepared!”

I heard scoffing from behind, but I left my uncle.

For several years like that, I had to go back and forth, doing whatever I wanted, and barely making a living.

But what the young woman could do was limited. So I lived like a wanderer for 4 years. There was no place to sleep and nothing to eat.

While I was realizing that people could die of starvation, I saw an announcement.

[Recruitment of custodians from the Duchy of Alterwood. Age 17 or older. Regardless of gender or experience. A person who can read and write and can perform arithmetic operations.]

I saw the announcement and went to see if it was possible. I didn't know it at the time, but it was said that the place was notorious for hard work.

I said I had come while I was struggling with no one to apply for for several months.

Somehow, no one was in the interview room! I should have run away then. I didn't know anything and just liked it.

After passing such a simple interview and exam, I met Lionel on the first day of work.

“A new estate manager?”

Yes, that question! That question was the third turning point in my life.

And it was the first time I had ever heard it again.

I thought he had died from overwork, but when I opened my eyes, I found myself back in the past, even back to my first day at work.

‘I promised myself that if I go back to before I became a janitor, I wouldn’t even pee in the direction of the Duke’s Castle!’

When I was asked if I was a new janitor, I couldn't shout, 'No, you devil!'

If you go out now, you won't die from overwork.

But I already knew how cold this winter was. Now, there was no place to eat, wear, or shelter from the wind and rain.

Hesitating to answer, I heard Lionel's voice.

“If you don’t know, tell me in advance. I don't trust people. Don't think about winning favors or gaining trust. Like a dead mouse, don't do anything, just do what you're told."

Hearing those words, the fire broke out again. Distrust of that damn bastard!

I wish I had given him a vacation believing that I would be back in the first place. Then I wouldn't have died from overwork, right?!

I narrowed my eyes and glared at Lionel, realizing it.

‘Everything has a reason! There must be a reason why I came back to the third turning point rather than the first or second turning point.’

And I remembered what I said before I died. I promised to take revenge on Lionel if I survived.

God sent me to the past to make it happen!

‘For those who don’t trust me for no reason, I have to give them a reason!’

It will tell you the pain of overwork. And Duke Lionel Alterwood must destroy the dead and inhospitable estate so horribly!

Of course, I also have to make a living, so it's not too much trouble to find the next job!

Lionel pays my salary generously, so if I tightens my belt for three years, I will be able to live in a small house in the mountains.

In three years, I'll get my revenge neatly and buy a little house with a garden. I'll go to a place where there's a rocking chair on the terrace and I can wake up to the smell of freshly baked bread!

And I have to live and work as a manor in another area.

‘Heh heh.’

I answered with a sly smile on the inside, but politely on the outside.

“Yes, Duke.”

Lionel's gaze was felt from above the crown. Glancing at me, he continued.

“Your job is simple. Managing forests, orchards, pastures, arable land, warehouses, breweries, mills, fences, textiles and utilities.”

Was 'simple' an abbreviation for 'simple short-lived!'?

It was a level of shock to hear it again. But Lionel's words were not over.

“You manage the arable land and the farmers yourself, and the rest you have to make a report based on the tax books collected by the inspector and report it to me once every three days.”

Also, simple seems to be the abbreviation for simple short name. Otherwise, you can't say it's simple by listing them in a row like that!

"Ah. I have one more thing to do. Gather the horses from places where people gather, such as taverns and squares, and report them to me.”

That's why I died from overwork!

As I looked at him with resentment, his brow narrowed.

“Your eyes are irreverent.”

“I am? Eyes?”

I couldn't be kicked out without a hitch before taking revenge, so I blinked with a look of incredulity.

Then Lionel handed him a metal plaque and gestured his chin to the door.

“Learn from the guys at the kwanliso.”

I took a plaque certifying that I was a manor janitor and went out.

When I went out the front door, a wagon was ready. When I got on, I didn't even say where I was going, but the carriage started right away.

In the Duchy of Alterwood, villages were clustered around the citadel.

If you cross the drawbridge and come out of the fortress wall, you will find a square, a tavern, and a courthouse. There are public facilities and convenience facilities near the square, and private houses are located further away.

There were several small fields around it. It was a privately cultivated field by the Youngji people.

If you run straight out of the main road, you will find a huge farmland owned by the Alterwood family, and the estate management office is in the middle.

"Here."

I heard a voice from the driver's seat, opened the curtains and looked outside. The duke's people were working hard on the farmland.

When I turned my head further to the side, I saw a management office that looked like a small castle.

As they got off the wagon, the workers stood up with their bent backs. The way he looked at me wasn't that pretty.

‘I remember the first day.’

Even then, there were many people who did not like the young woman, the manor of the estate. In addition, she was told that some of the custodians she had been with before took their anger out on Young *duke.

Of course, I was able to be recognized right before I died thanks to my work.

'And I'm really dead!'

Once again, with a burning desire for revenge, I entered the management office.

I went up to the second floor and saw Sophie, Tom and Gerald. They had half-open eyes with a hardened face.

Their necks and arms were droopy and looked weak. Still, their fingers were constantly moving, writing books and reports.

Like corpses controlled by a warlock!

Before I died, I was like that. Those who didn't know would have thought this was a tomb or a haunted house.

In fact, neither was wrong.

‘What if those three die like me? Then this really becomes a graveyard.’

Gerald raised his head as he looked worriedly. And after a while, it made a squeaky sound.

“Huh?”

You look like a real zombie!

I covered my mouth as I was about to cry. And I watched three zombies walk towards me.

Soon three zombies stopped side by side in front of me.

“Are you the new land manager? I am Sophie, this is Tom, and this is Gerald.”

"Nice to meet you."

“We are supervisors, and we will be working under you, so please be comfortable.”